We Are Nurses: ECMC H+H July/August 2018

JULY/AUGUST 2018

A NEWSLETTER FOR NYSNA RNs AT ERIE COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER

Nurse-Powered Politics Win! Nurses went all out this state legislative session to improve conditions for our patients and for our fellow nurses. We rallied, we lobbied lawmakers in Albany and in district, we signed petitions and made phone calls, and we had a breakthrough!

At the end of the session, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his support for safe staffing, and made a commitment to sponsor legislation and regulations setting safe staffing levels for nurses and caregivers in hospitals and nursing homes. In the meantime, the Governor directed the State Department of Labor to strictly enforce existing state law that protects nurses from involuntary overtime and guarantees the right to penalty pay for missed meal breaks and extra hours worked.

Nurses also saw tremendous momentum for guaranteed healthcare for all. The NY Health Act passed the New York State Assembly for the fourth year in a row!

Single payer healthcare would require all hospitals to be reimbursed at the same rate, which would be a big financial boost to ECMC and all public sector hospitals in the state.

We need to act upon this momentum by building up nurses’ political power. By getting behind strong candidates and getting nurses out to vote this fall, we can turn our momentum into concrete victories in 2019!

ECMC nurses on NYSNA’s Political Action Team interviewed federal and state candidates on July 11.

NYSNA’s PAC and Board of Directors will also meet to discuss candidates, and will issue our official endorsements in mid-August.

Liam Morrissey, RN, attended the candidate screening at ECMC and said: “I don’t consider myself that political—this was my first time getting involved. The politicians you usually just see on TV are coming to us to sit at the table and pitch us their ideas. And we’re telling them nurses’ priorities. Elected officials have so much influence over resources and people’s lives—nurses need to join together to have influence, too.”

There are so many ways you can learn more and get involved—from phone banking to canvassing and more! To volunteer in the #NYNursesVote effort, please visit: http://bit.ly/nynursesgotv

We know that quality of care is directly linked to appropriate staffing levels. Next session I will introduce legislation allowing the Department of Health to set safe staffing levels by regulation as legislative solutions have not been forthcoming.”

- Governor Andrew Cuomo, July 20, 2018

WE ARE NURSES, WE ARE NYSNA!

Say It Loud: We Are Nurses, We Are NYSNA Public sector workers and their unions throughout the country have been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court decision, Janus vs. AFSCME. The decision, which was released on Wednesday, June 27, essentially makes all public sector workers, including many nurses, teachers, police, fire fighters, and other government employees into right-to-work employees with the stroke of a pen.

Nurses and our allies in the labor movement turned out at an emergency rally in Foley Square to protest the decision. We spoke out in one loud, united voice that we are union and proud!

What the Supreme Court Decision Means for RNs This Supreme Court decision represents a direct attack on workers’ power and our ability to collectively bargain for ourselves and advocate for our patients.

The billionaire-backed institutions that provided the financing and legal team to bring the case before the Supreme Court have worked for decades on both the state and federal level to eliminate the rights of workers through legislation and through the courts.

What this means practically is that union members will no longer have to contribute dues to support the work of representing them and bargaining in their interests. As we have seen in other states with right-towork laws, the result is greatly reduced union power, job security, and wages and benefits for all workers—union and Freedom of speech is non-union alike. An attack on our union important, but I don’t think that is an attack on our patients.

the wealthy people who brought this issue to the Supreme Court are really concerned with that.

They found a working class guy—Janus—to argue their case, because it’s in their interest financially for unions to be weak.

We need to keep educating our co-workers on what unions have delivered for them and how working class people will lose out in the long run without unions. Unions are just like paying for your insurance—you may never have an accident, but it’s good to have them around if you ever need them.”

- Shawn Mitchell, RN

I don’t think we can effectively advance our nursing practice and advocate for our patients without a strong union behind us.

NYSNA is 42,000 members strong and growing. Just think about what we will be able to achieve if we stay united.”

-Chiqkena Collins, RN NYSNA Western Regional Director

What’s next?

We know the attacks on working people will continue. Because this national effort to roll back worker protections was successful, corporations and their front-groups will be emboldened to roll back even more of our American rights, even in union strongholds like New York.

But we can fight back. As patient advocates, we are used to struggling to get the resources our patients need. As union members, we have stuck together and won many gains—from professional salaries and benefit packages for registered nurses, to eliminating mandatory overtime, to making assaulting a nurse a felony, to safe patient handling, and so much more.

To show our unity, nurses have been signing membership recommitment forms and proudly wearing our NYSNA RN badges on every shift. We need to make it known that union nurses care for New York— and we’re not giving up without a fight!

JULY/ AUGUST 2018

With so much still to be accomplished—from bargaining new contracts, to winning safe staffing and guaranteed healthcare for all— nurses need to be all in. Keep signing up your colleagues on member recommitment forms. Come to union meetings. Run to become a union delegate. Work to make our union even stronger, because we are the union and nurses united will never be defeated!

A Newsletter for NYSNA RNs at Erie County Medical Center

Everything that we get as nurses— our pay, PTO, health insurance and more—we bargained for through our union. In the age of Janus, they want to take those rights and benefits away from us. That’s why it’s so important to get out the vote this year. As a group, we have more power to represent nurses’ interests to elected officials and to the bean counters at the hospital.

- Liam Morrissey, RN with various situations and emotions. CPEP can be a challenging environment to work in because it has these situations that are unique to behavioral health and make you think critically and independently. I feel like these challenges have really improved my clinical skills.

Q: When did you first get involved in NYSNA?

Ask a Nurse: Jon Cozzemera, RN

Q: How long have you been a nurse?

I’ve been a nurse since 2012. I started at my career at ECMC in behavioral health. I was a floor nurse for two years, spent one year as a staff nurse at CPEP, and for the last three years, I’ve been a team leader in CPEP.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about being a nurse?

I love helping patients and learning from patients. It’s a humbling experience to work with patients in behavioral health—I think you really learn what it means to be human. Working with patients in a mental health crisis really improves your interactions with people in everyday life with knowing how to read and interact

I feel like I’ve always been involved—from very early on in my career. It’s good to at least have informal dialogues to try to understand the needs of your colleagues. What are we striving for at the hospital? What are the issues? How do we set some reasonable goals to advocate for and improve the things that need changing?

Q: I hear you recently received an award from the Professional Nurses Association of Western New York. Tell us what the award was all about.

The Association hosts an awards banquet every year.

My manager at ECMC wrote a nice letter nominating me for the Outstanding Staff Nurse award, and then an independent panel selected me as the winner of the award. It felt pretty special to win this award, not just for myself, but to put behavioral health on the map. This is the first time the award was won by a behavioral health nurse. Often times, our work can be pushed under the rug or stigmatized because our patients are stigmatized, so it was just really nice to be recognized. I feel excited about the recognition, as well as all the positive things happening in behavioral health at ECMC. We filled the positions we wanted and now we’re looking ahead!

* If you know a NYSNA member who deserves to be recognized, please email NYNurse@nysna.org with your suggestion

UPCOMING EVENTS (For more information or to register, ask your NYSNA Rep)

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LABOR DAY PARADE September 3, Buffalo

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MEDICAL MISSION & DISASTER RELIEF September 4 - 14, Philippines

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WESTERN NY INTER-REGIONAL December 12, Buffalo

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2019 SEMINAR AT SEA May 12-19, Spain

Executive Committee Kevin Donovan, Vice Co-Chair, 7 Zone 4 Cathy Bystrak, Grievance Chair, 6 North Lynne Roland, Terrace View Co-Chair, Cazenovia Karen Green, Terrace View Vice Co-Chair, Supervisor Heather Scott, Secretary, Behavioral Health Clinics Raymond Rebmann, Membership Chair, 7 Zone 1 Elizabeth McCray, Terrace View Specialty, Naval Park Steve Bailey, Terrace View Specialty, Kensington Sarah Ott, Behavioral Health Specialty, 5 South Rachel Larkin, Behavioral Health Specialty, 5 South Katrina Reynolds, CPEP Specialty, CPEP Loretta Palermo, Emergency Dept. Specialty, ED Sarah Chmura, Med/ Surg Specialty, 8 North Shawntres Currin, Med/Surg Specialty, 7 Zone 2 Murnita Bennett, At-Large, Care Management

Floor Delegates

Erie County nurses marched in Buffalo’s annual Juneteenth Parade, the third largest Juneteenth celebration in the country!

GET READY FOR BARGAINING! Members set the priorities for bargaining, so make sure you fill out a CONTRACT SURVEY. Surveys are available on every unit throughout the hospital. If you can’t find one, please contact your Rep!

Dana Brown, Anesthesiology Ann Dowdell, Care Management Shawn Mitchell, 5 North Alicia Geiss, PACU Shannon Mahar, 6 Zone 2 Matt Botticelli, 6 North Tara Hill, 9 Zone 3 Jennifer Greene, 9 Zone 3 Cynthia Dwyer, 7 Zone 1 Mackenzie DeCarlo, CPEP Ben Stanford, Delegate over all Unit Managers Maria Galante-Cichon, ASU Valeta Dunn, 8 Zone 1 Lee Barnett, OR Liam Morrissey, OR Chiqkena Collins, MICU Jennifer Brinkworth, 4 Zone 4 Sherry Thomas, PACU Delores Mitchell, TV Botanical Gardens Lisa Nowak, TV Canalside

If you’d like to join our leadership team, speak to a Delegate, or contact your Rep.

GET ANSWERS/STAY IN TOUCH Your NYSNA Representatives: Michael Graham michael.graham@nysna.org 716-467-0449 Jennifer Valentín-Polanco jennifer.valentin@nysna.org 716-445-6319 Dental benefit questions: www.Aetna.com, 877-238-6200 Prescription benefit questions: www.optumrx.com, 888-691-0130 For all other benefits: www.lmhf.net, 716-601-7980

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